Hubble Telescope sets its eyes on cosmic cotton candy near the Tarantula Nebula (photo)
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Fluffy strands of cosmic gas and dust illuminated by bright young stars form a beautiful cloudscape in a neighboring nebula.
A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures the colorful, wispy clouds near the Tarantula Nebula, which is located about 160,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The Tarantula Nebula is one of the most luminous and active star-forming regions in our galactic backyard.
The rich reservoirs of dust and gas within the Tarantula Nebula provide the material needed to fuel the birth of new stars — some of which are 150 times more massive than our sun. The nebula's gravity pulls the dispersed gas and dust particles together, causing them to clump and eventually collapse into denser regions to form new stars.
"This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include [tiny] bits of soil, skin cells, hair and even plastic," NASA officials said in the statement releasing the new Hubble image. "Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen."
Related: The best Hubble Space Telescope images of all time!
Silicates are a key part of star formation, as well as the formation of solar systems. These molecules are found in the interstellar medium, where they help form stars and other celestial bodies.
Tiny grains of dust scattered across the cosmos can collect in disks around young stars and clump together to eventually form planets. These particles also help cool clouds of gas, allowing them to condense and form new stars.
"Dust plays several important roles in the universe," NASA officials said in the statement. "Dust even plays a role in making new molecules in interstellar space, providing a venue for individual atoms to find each other and bond together in the vastness of space."
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The recent image of the Tarantula Nebula's neighborhood was captured as part of a larger initiative to characterize the properties of cosmic dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other galaxies near our own Milky Way.
The Hubble image captures the nebula's diverse stellar population, which includes hot, young blue stars and older red stars, scattered among intricately woven, airy tendrils of gas and dark clumps of dust. The colorful cloud formations glow in bright white and deep blue-green and orange-brown hues that create a beautiful cloudscape reminiscent of clouds illuminated by a golden sunrise on Earth.
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